THE REBELLION IN TENNESSEE 



OBSERVATIONS 



BISHOP OTEY'S LETTER 



HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



BY A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA. 



Licet omnibus, licet etiam mihi, dignitatem Patriae tueri ; potestas modo veniendi in publicam 
sit, dicendi periculum non recuse-.— Cicero, Philipp. 2. 




WASHINGTON : 

McGILL, WITHEROW & CO., PRINTERS, 

18G2. 



• Mtb 



ZDsTOTIEJ. 

The folio-wing Eeply to Bishop (Key's Letter was written in July last; but it 
was withheld from the press because it could not then reach Tennessee. As 
the avenues for the progress of intelligence are again open there, it is now 
published in the hope that it may do good among some portions, at least, of 
the population in the revolted States. The time that has elapsed since it was 
written has afforded some striking illustrations of its views and arguments. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



To the Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, D. D., 

Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

in the Diocese of Tennessee. 

I have read, with deep concern, what purports to be a letter 
on the National Crisis, addressed by you to the Secretary of 
State. The public are not aware that Mr. Seward has made 
any reply, or proposes to do so. It may be easily imagined 
that, even were he inclined to engage in such controversy, he 
has little time for it now. And yet, in the present condition of 
Tennessee, many may think that such a letter from such a source 
ought to be answered. It cannot be regarded, in your own sec- 
tion, as of slight significance. There are also not a few highly 
respectable and influential persons in the loyal border States, in 
communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church — of which you 
have long been a distinguished diocesan — who have been accus- 
tomed to esteem every production of your pen as entitled to 
■attention. In view of this fact, and of the importance of every 
single effort directed to the recovery of Tennessee, I venture to 
offer some observations upon your letter. Should this be deemed 
presumptuous in an humble layman towards one of the Right 
Reverend Fathers of our Church, my vindication may be found 
in the words of the Roman orator, prefixed to this letter : " It is 
' the right of every man (it is even mine) to attempt to support 

* the honor and dignity of his country ; and while he has the op- 
' portunity of appearing before the public, he should not decline 

* the hazards of delivering his sentiments openly and boldly." 
First let me say, however, that while I object to the accuracy of 
your statements in matters of fact, to the justness of your infer- 
ences, your imputations of motives and designs to the United 
States Government, some offensive epithets, and not a few " rail- 
ing accusations," I most cheerfully acquit you of deliberate mis- 
representation, and of that rhetorical sophistry which aims to de- 
ceive. Indeed, while perusing your letter with care, with the re- 
spect due to your episcopal character, and the personal kindness 
which no difference can abate, I cannot but look on it as another 
link in the chain of evidence showing the deplorable extent of that 
delusion which the leaders of the rebellion succeeded in impo- 



sing upon Southern communities, concerning the real nature of 
this controversy, the purposes and spirit of the President, and 
those whom he called to his aid in the Executive administration, 
and the character and aims of the citizen-soldiers engaged in the 
patriotic work of defending the Constitution and the Union. 
That a christian gentleman of your elevated position, pure pri- 
vate life, and hitherto conservative political sentiments, should 
be so far misled, is one of the most remarkable proofs that have 
come under my observation, of the success wherewith unscrupu- 
lous conspirators contrived to educate the Southern mind into 
the adoption of their own pestilent dogmas, as well as their con- 
tumelious and iniquitous representations of the aims and feelings 
of their countrymen, who rose in mass and rallied under the flag 
of the Union for the protection of the National Capital and the 
preservation of the National Government. 

You have depicted, in colors not more vivid than true, the 
characteristics of our Southern fellow-citizens. I concur in nearly 
all you say complimentary to their brave hearts and strong 
hands, their coolness in sudden emergencies, their deliberate valor 
amidst imminent dangers. I, too, if not so long familiar as your- 
self with the people of the South and Southwest, know them well. 
The educator of youth enjoys opportunities, scarcely surpassed 
by those of the minister of religion, to become thoroughly 
acquainted with all classes and conditions of persons amidst those 
home scenes and quiet walks, where character is read far more 
correctly than among the excitements of popular debate, the 
engagements of public business, or the luxurious displays of a 
landed aristocracy. Born on the " sacred soil" of Virginia, a few 
miles distant from Mount Vernon ; a teacher once in the noble 
University of our native State, founded by Thomas Jefffuson; a 
head master and principal at different times in your own dio- 
cesan institutions ; having traversed over, and resided in, other 
slaveholding States — I can speak to my countrymen there witli 
the cordial interest of fellowship and fraternity. I acknowledge 
their virtues, their hardy training, their valor, their skill in arms, 
and their sturdy independence. To use the language of Chatham, 
on a memorable occasion, "I believe they can accomplish any- 
thing, except impossibilities !" But I tell you that the over- 
throw of this Government by your Catalines and Hotspurs — 
the subversion of this Constitution, the beneficent and glorious 
work of our fathers — the dissolution of this Union, inseparable 
as we regard it from our liberty and happiness, is an impossi- 
bility. That is an achievement beyond the power of even the 
bravest hearts and strongest hands which the " sunny South" 
can present for the admiration and envy of inferior mortals ! 
Orators may expend their eloquence, too ; statesmen their ingen- 



uity ; metaphysical politicians their refinements on the right and 
expediency of secession; but this Government cannot thus be 
broken up. This Constitution cannot thus be abrogated, nullified, 
or permanently impaired. No ; never ! The idea of such a con- 
summation is a cheat and a snare. Conceived thirty years ago 
by South Carolina, the delusion was dispelled by the robust 
power of Jackson, Clay, and Webster. The phantom has re-ap- 
peared with more threatening aspect, and with giant proportions ; 
but, God willing, it shall again be exorcised, and then laid low 
forever. Oh ! that in this work we could have your aid and 
co-operation in the State of Tennessee, where you were long the 
revered chief pastor of a devoted flock ; and throughout those 
other luxuriant regions of the South and Southwest, where, 
for so many years, you labored as a missionary amidst sacrifices, 
hardships, and hazards of every kind. That, indeed, were a 
high and noble calling, in which talents, learning, and piety 
might well press forward, eager to bear a part. Nor is it diffi- 
cult to imagine that " the illustrious sages and patriots of the 
' Revolution are bending from their elevated seats to witness this 

* contest — incapable, till it be brought to a favorable issue, of 
' enjoying their eternal repose. Enjoy that repose ! illustrious 
' immortals. Your mantle fell when you ascended, and millions 

* animated by your spirit, and resolved to follow your steps, are 
' ready to swear by him who sitteth on the throne, and liveth 
' for ever and ever, that they will protect liberty in this her 
' chosen asylum, nor ever desert that Union which you estab- 
4 lished by your labors, and cemented with your blood."* 

Your eulogium upon the South would not, I trust, be deliber- 
ately restricted by you to that part of the population now in 
arms against the United States, or to those who sympathize with 
the enemies of this Government, or to that large class who, once 
disdaining and detesting the leading conspirators, have at last 
given way and surrendered to their ascendancy, from mixed 
motives, but chiefly, there is reason to believe, in consequence of 
a system of proscription and intimidation the most merciless and 
unrelenting. You will certainly not deny that th" qualities of 
the Southerner, so eloquently celebrated in your letter, belong 
just as entirely to the loyalists of that section as to the rebels ; 
and that the former are at least quite as worthy of your encomi- 
astic fervor as the latter. Yet you appear to have for these not 
one word of commendation or kindness : — although, tried as they 
are, true and bold in their loyalty to the Government while sur- 
rounded by weakness, defection, and apostacy, 

" Faithful found among the faithless," 
* Rev. Robert Hall. 



they deserve your encouragement and assistance, or at least 
the consideration due to courage, conscientiousness, and fidelity. 
Were there none among this gallant band in the revolted States 
that yet love the Constitution and the Union present to your 
memory when you made the " eloquent omission " of their merits 
and their sufferings at this crisis ? 

The portion of your letter upon which I am now commenting 
is further disfigured by your designating the Government of our 
country as " the invader." 

"Invader!" Invade what? Invade whom? 

Ours is yet a Goveknment, co-extensive with the whole Union, 
bound by the most imperative obligations to execute Law and 
maintain Authority in every part of our country ; and likewise 
to give adequate protection to all American citizens, whether 
they reside in loyal and peaceful communities, or those wherein 
revolt and insurrection predominate. With what propriety can 
the United States Government be designated as " the invader " 
of United States territory ? or, of your " people," who are citi- 
zens of the United States, either loyal and true, as many notori- 
ously are, and many more wish to be, or disorganizes, insurgents, 
rebels, and traitors ? In what political vocabulary can the term 
"invasion" be found to bear such a definition? 

You arraigned this Government, also, for " threatening devas- 
tation and ruin" to those fair fields you describe in terms so 
glowing, but not warmer than are consistent with the reality. 
Did the attitude of the Government justify this language, or 
anything like it ? Recall the occurrences of the past year — the 
events which immediately followed the promulgation of South 
Carolina's seceding ordinance — the successive acts of spoliation 
and plunder by different seceding States — the forcible seizure of 
United States vessels, forts, arsenals, navy-yards, custom-houses, 
sub-treasuries, mints, moneys, and other property belonging to 
the nation — in short, all they could lay their hands upon, except 
the post offices, which were spared only because the Government 
was actually providing, at its own cost, the amplest postal facili- 
ties for the people of the revolted States, including the projectors 
of the rebellion themselves. Recall these proceedings, and say 
whether they did not constitute "invasion" and "war" in the 
strongest sense of those terms, such as really would " threaten 
devastation and ruin" to any organized Government that would 
tolerate them. When, at length, the present administration 
undertook to put an end to this course of lawless aggression, 
guilt, and treason, did it rightly incur the imputation of being 
"the invader?" It seems to me the grossest perversion of the 
ordinary meaning of language, to bestow such a name on the 
Executive or any of his authorized agents, and to stigmatize 



those whose own rights have been audaciously outraged, whose 
possessions have been ruthlessly seized, whose gold and silver 
have been feloniously abstracted, as persons " who with hostile 
tread ventured to violate the sanctity of our soil." Impartial 
history will declare that to South Carolina, who inaugurated 
Civil War, and to the misguided States that followed her ex- 
ample, belong distinctively the appellation of "invaders" and 
also whatever discredit may justly attach to "violating the sanc- 
tity" of public faith, when the Government of the Union trusted 
its treasures, its properties, the lives of a loyal garrison, and the 
honor of our common flag to the safeguard of Southern fidelity 
and Southern humanity. 

This " war" has been from its origin one of defence on the 
part of the Government, caused by persistent, unfaltering, auda- 
cious aggression on the part of the so-called " Confederate 
States," or rather the illegal combinations that therein wield the 
powers of the State governments, in some instances directly and 
flagrantly against the expressed will of the people of their re- 
spective States. It is a war whose commencement was acknowl- 
edged by reputable Southern statesmen to have been unprovoked 
by any aggressions from the Federal Gfovernment at any time, 
as it was unsought by and notoriously unacceptable to the present 
Chief Magistrate and his Cabinet. The Federal Government 
has been under the control of the slaveholding States during the 
greatest portion of our national existence ; and its beneficent 
operation has been acknowledged by all who could appreciate 
social and personal blessings, and had the candor and intelligence 
to recognize their source and their bulwark. The power of the 
Union had been felt, indeed, only for the good of our section. 
During the eight years previous to the accession of President 
Lincoln particularly, the Federal authorities showed anything 
but disfavor towards the slaveholding States ; and after the elec- 
tion of the present Executive what evidence was given by him 
or his confidential friends of any policy or disposition that would 
in the least degree warrant your accusations or extenuate the 
crime of men who conspired to change the organic forms of our 
political system ? I use the word " crime" deliberately. I re- 
peat it. The originators and active executors of this rebellion 
are, in my opinion, the greatest criminals against good and 
practicable government the world has ever seen ; and if they 
could carry out their plans they would rival those " Architects 
of Ruin" whom Burke has consigned to immortal infamy. If, 
indeed, there was ever an indulgent and long suffering government 
in any age or country, such was ours, until the truculent and 
cowardly assault on Sumpter sounded the death-knell of patience 
and forbearance. The proclamation of President Lincoln then 



only announced — what every loyal citizen was burning to utter — 
that the hour had come when the American people must rise and 
preserve the honor of their flag, the dignity of their government, 
the authority of their laws, and their own internal peace, quiet, 
and security. The proclamation acted like a spell. It awoke at 
once the spirit, resolution, and generosity ©f the loyal States, 
and the loyalists of the revolted States. Roused and animated 
to act as one man, they had but one voice. Their universal re- 
sponse to the President's call was, " We must preserve the Gov- 
1 eminent and the Union ; we will fight for them ; we will re- 
' sist their enemies, if need be, to the death." And if ever a 
President might feel an assurance that the general principles on 
which he has acted have been just and justifiable, and that he 
might throw himself on the judgment of his country and pos- 
terity, in my opinion that inspiring assurance may be cherished 
by Abraham Lincoln. 

Nor are your imputations on the Government of the United 
States more unwarrantable than the charges you insinuate more 
or less directly against the soldiers of the republic. I confess I 
read with amazement that passage, wherein you thought it 
not unbecoming the gravity of the discussion, the sober- 
minded character of the officer of state to whom your letter 
is addressed, the delicacy of those numerous readers of the 
gentler sex among your flock who would be sure to peruse any 
production of your pen, and the sacrednesss of the episcopal 
function, to repeat an accusation not more gross than untrue. I 
refer to the sentences attributing to the volunteers of the loyal 
States the abominable motive suggested by the phrase you quote 
from ancient Scripture, "to every man a damsel or two!" This 
insinuation could hardly have originated with a prelate of your 
acknowledged purity and elevation of character. It sounds 
rather like the clap-trap of some prurient demagogue giving 
license to a polluted imagination, and imposed upon your artless 
credulity. But, from whatever source the insinuation comes, 
whether as fact, argument, or illustration, I assure you it is 
quite inapplicable to the volunteers of the United States. Had 
you spent a single day in the encampments of the Potomac, be- 
fore you adopted it, I believe you would have repelled it as 
unfounded and calumnious. They are not profligates or liber- 
tines. All who know the taint of recklessness which life in camp 
has been held as likely to impart, are surprised, indeed, at the 
absence of those habits which your use of the above quotation 
would ascribe to them. So far as I can learn, the behavior of 
privates and officers is marked by general propriety, and 
their demeanor to women is not only decorous, but deferential 
and delicate. Many of us have, more than once, had occasion 



to notice these characteristics as displayed towards young or 
indiscreet girls who, impelled by curiosity, or smitten by the gay 
uniforms and dashing airs of the soldiers, had ventured within 
their lines, or played off their fascinations at reviews and 
receptions. Without committing the absurdity of pretending to 
represent these gallants as so many Josephs, or, as imbued with 
any very stoical notions of indifference to pleasure, I have no 
hesitation in appealing to the most judicious and severe of the 
officials set over them, as well as to the guardians of public 
morals in this community, for the truth of the assertion, that, to 
associate such motives with the impulses of these patriotic young 
men, would be a gross libel on their character and conduct. 

Nor do they more deserve the designation you are pleased to 
employ, of "mercenaries" or "hirelings." This title is not 
only unjust, but, as respects many companies, regiments, and 
brigades, in flagrant contrariety to the facts. There are many 
who are making the greatest sacrifices, pecuniary, commercial, 
and personal, every day and every hour they are serving in the 
army ; and, as to the rest, without claiming for them any 
romantic superiority to the temptations of solid and regular pay, 
it would be most captious and unfair to intimate that they enlisted 
for " hire and salary" alone. I feel a strong conviction that, 
if you could have spent a few days and nights here, as did your 
Right Reverend Brother in the Church, the Bishop of Ohio ; if 
you could have seen for yourself the army that has occupied 
Washington and its neighborhoods, whether in Virginia or 
Maryland, you never would have indulged in such language. 
You would have seen men gathered from every part of the North, 
the West, and the Middle States, and, mingling with them, not 
a few natives of the South and the Southwest — fearing God, and 
in love and charity with mankind — known for integrity and purity 
of life and conversation, free from sensuality and other excesses — 
honest, upright, and sober-minded — as little chargeable with sel- 
fish indulgence as those who know what is in man could reason- 
ably expect, and devoted to their country with a genuine affec- 
tion. 

Personal observation and experience would not only have pre- 
vented you, I firmly believe, from putting forth the letter on 
which I have presumed to comment, but would probably have 
arrayed you on the side of those brave and patriotic citizens 
who, in Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, have stood 
out so resolutely against conspiracy, rebellion, political treachery, 
and personal perfidy in high places. Manet ilia in republica 
honorum consensio I Dolor accessit ; virtus non est imminuta. 
The words of the illustrious Roman are again most apposite 
and descriptive. "Among those good citizens there is still a 



10 

' unity of sentiment ; they may be filled with grief at the scenes 
' around them, but their virtue and spirit suffer no abatement." 
Who does not regret that the Bishop of Tennessee is not found 
in that glorious phalanx ? But can he deny that it is the posi- 
tive and imperious obligation of this Government to give them 
"all needful aid and protection"? 

This letter is too long. I have written, because your remarks, 
if unanswered, seemed likely to produce impressions injurious to 
the cause of Union men in the South, and especially in Tennes- 
see. For more than a quarter of a century I, a Southron by 
birth and early associations, have been connected with Southern 
journals as editor or contributor. During that period I have 
uniformly labored to maintain whatever was most important to 
the true interests and honor of the South, to social order, to the 
security of property, to the bonds of practicable and good gov- 
ernment. I have most sedulously, though humbly, endeavored 
to uphold the men, the measures, and the doctrines that would 
conduce to those ends. While I conducted a leading political 
journal of Tennessee, some years ago, it was my gratification 
and pride to imagine that its general principles and course in 
these respects met your concurrence. Permit me, therefore, to 
express the sorrowful emotions your letter awakened. Callous 
and unreflecting persons may sneer at this unaffected expression 
of my sensibility. But you will not ; and, at any rate, I am 
not ashamed of it. I had heard with pain of the defection of 
eminent politicians of Tennessee, with whom I had long acted, 
among some of whom I had lived in all the charities of friendship 
and the interchange of good offices, and to whose talents, private 
virtues, and flowing hospitality I had ever borne the most cordial 
testimony. With peculiar regret did I learn that the cause of 
the Constitution and the Union had been abandoned by -that 
statesman* with whom, in my youth, I had rejoiced to cooperate, 
when he wielded no inglorious lance in many a well-fought field 
against Nullifiers, Repudiators, and other Disorganizers. Little 
did I dream, when, as editor of the Nashville Republican Banner, 
I gave my days and nights to the support of measures, principles, 
and men identified with the supremacy of the Constitution and 
the perpetuity of the Union, that the day would ever come when 
the very men whom I then associated with and tried to uphold 
would depart from the great lessons we had drawn, in common, 
from the Fathers of the Republic ; would adopt, instead, the 
heresies and sophisms of a treasonable Faction whom we had 
persistently opposed ; and lay the good old constitutional banner 
of Tennessee at the feet of the self-seeking Cabal of Mont- 
gomery ! 

* John Bell. 



11 

But I was still more deeply affected by your separation from 
the cause of the Union. Having bidden adieu to politics, just 
after the vote of the State of Tennessee had been secured for 
Henry Clay in 1844, I returned to the more congenial pursuits 
of literature and academical education. At the institutions 
established under your auspices, it was one of my unfaltering 
purposes to imbue the impressible minds of the youth committed 
to our charge with sentiments of comprehensive patriotism and 
devotion to the whole Union. I rejoice to know that, scattered 
all over the Mississippi valley, in every State of the so-called 
Southern Confederacy, there are graduates of those institutions 
whose affection and gratitude more than repay all the anxious 
care and toils of their instructors. I am most unwilling to 
believe that attachment to the government of their country — 
their whole country — has been eradicated from their hearts. 
Let me, at any rate, assure them, through you, that the cause 
of the American Union, which they were taught to love and 
revere, was never stronger or more secure than at this hour. 
The trial is, indeed, severe beyond all precedent. But the 
American People have shown themselves equal to it. They will 
come out from the ordeal tested and proved as capable of self- 
government, with increased confidence in the stability and benefi- 
cence of Republican Institutions, and gratifying and cheering 
the votaries of freedom throughout the world by the triumphant 
success of the American Example ! 

City of Washington. 



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